Saying Hello from the French Riviera

Ok, so I'm not really relaxing on the French Riviera but this card helps me feel like I am.

This week on MTME Pretty Pattern challenge, you can choose from sketches 1 - 6.  You can find those sketches here.  I used sketch # 5.    The stamps are from the digi collection, A Lil' Cafe.  

The paper is from the digi packs Dainty Damask and the pink & white stripe is one of my favorites from Serenity.  The post card is actually a free extra from the digi pack Warm Serenity.  

I colored the images with copics and used distressed inks to give it an antique look.  I couldn't help but add some little pearls to the centers of the daisy silhouettes and a little pink butterfly.

I lowered the circle in the sketch and put a flower near the bottom.  I added some netting behind it, diamond stickles to the petals and a pearl in the center.  

Thank you for visiting!  I appreciate every message so please don't be shy.  

Also, don't forget to stop by MTME's Pretty Pattern challenge and join in the fun!  

Happy 50th Anniversary to my Mom and Dad!

I apologize that my MTME post is so very late.  I had a crazy-busy week getting ready for my parent's 50th anniversary celebration which was Saturday night.  It was a wonderful event - all 6 of my parent's children, their spouses, 22 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren were in attendance.  Two of the 22 grandchildren were represented with a photo of the two of them since they have passed on.. my nephew, Marcus, at the age of 17 in 2008 from brain cancer and my own sweet Jessica just last Oct (2010) from the heart, lung and GI defects she was born with - she was 22 yrs old when she died.  I'm sure that Jessica and Marcus were there in spirit.  Some of my parent's siblings were able to attend too as well as my mom's cousin and her daughter.  It was an event to remember!

Here is the card that I made that we had every family member sign:

I used MTME's digi paper Wistful Wonder.  I love this set!

  

I used Martha Stewart punch for the butterfly and then applied Diamond Stickles on the top and added little pearls down the center. 

I bought the lace at Michael's in a spool... can you believe how gorgeous it is?

The sentiment came from a couple of different digi stamps: I used the "happy" and Anniversary" from Sentimental Occasions and used the 5 and 0 from Harriet Hop-Along Birthday. 

Silly me... I forgot to take a photo of the inside of the card.  I printed the sentiment from So Sentimental that says, 

"Family - Our family is a circle of strength and love.  With every birth and union it grows.  Every crisis faced together makes the circle stronger."

Guess what was inside the card?  ...  keys to a CAR!  My siblings and I as well as a few of my parent's siblings pitched in and bought my parents a car.  They were shocked!  It was great!  We had it all decorated and at a friend's house so while they were inside my brother-in-law drove it to the church and had it parked outside.  

I also made a large display board that said, "Family - all because two people fell in love".  Below it I had their wedding picture from 1961 and a recent (beautiful!) photo they had taken a few months ago.  The remainder of the board was covered in photos of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  I'll have to take some photos of it and share it here.  

I'm exhausted from all the activity from this past week.  Thank you for being so patient with me on getting this post out late.  

I'll be back on Thursday with another card and another sketch.  

I'm entering this card at: Make it Monday

Guest Designer spot with Tilda

I'm so excited to be a guest designer for Paper Crafting Journey today.  {If you are looking for my weekly post for My Time Made Easy's Pretty Patterns post, I'm afraid it will be late.  Between internet problems, photoshop problems (needed for the digi stamps) and not feeling well, I'm running behind schedule.  Thank you for your patience.}  In the meantime, let's talk about this fun card I made for Paper Crafting Journey's challenge!   This week's challenge is a sketch and a theme:  Go Girly!  Do you think my card is girly enough?  lol

(click on images to enlarge)

I used Tilda with Hawaiian flower.  I love the flower in her hair and all the butterflies around her.  My daughter loved butterflies too so this stamp makes me think of her and feel closer to her.   I stamped the dress onto the patterned paper, paper pieced it and adhered it to the image.  The rest of the image is colored with copics.  I added Diamond stickes on the dress, butterflies and flowers.  The photo below shows all the shiny goodness.

Lots of layers and embellishments on this card, which I love to use!

Thank you for stopping by!  Don't forget to check out the other designers on Paper Crafting Journey and join in the fun! 
Here's the sketch and remember, the theme is GO GIRLY!  

Other challenges I'm entering this card in:Make it MondayReally Reasonable Ribbon - cool it! 

I'll have another post for you later today (hopefully) with MTME's Pretty Patterns sketch challenge.

TE's Blast from the Past Blog Hop

Good morning!  I have a fun card for you today.  The theme of TE's July's Blast from the Past Blog Hop is: Sending You Sunshine.  I have plenty of sunshine to share here from AZ!  By the time July comes around we're all ready to welcome any clouds to give us a break from the furnace that many call "At least it's a dry heat"...  at 110 degrees it doesn't matter... just give us a break from the heat!  lol  My card is inspired by the massive amounts of sunshine we get here in AZ... as you can see, my whole card is sunshine!

I used the tree branch and the sentiment from Branching Out and used the nest with the birds inside from Wreath of Love.  

I first cut out a circle from the yellow cardstock.  I then measured and marked where I wanted the sun rays and then cut out about 1/8" slivers so the blue background could show through.  I had a hard time getting the picture just right with the dark background... but as you can see, I numbered the sun rays so I wouldn't get mixed up as to where they went.

I sponged Daffodil delight around the edges of the yellow cardstock and then adhered it to the blue cardstock.  I then cut the extra off.

Thank you for joining me today as we hop our way through the TE's Blast From the Past Blog Hop.

Join me tomorrow as I have TWO posts with TWO cards to show you.  I'm guest designer for Paper Crafting Journey!  What an honor!

This card is being entered in Simon Says Stamp = ANYTHING GOES!

Love is Like a Butterfly

Today's card is one that I made for this week's MTME Pretty Patterns sketch - we are on week 18 already!  I love the sentiment, "Love is like a butterfly - it goes where it pleases and pleases whereever it goes."  My daughter loved butterflies and told me that she would send me butterflies from heaven so now I think of her every time I see one.

The butterflies on this card are from Tending the Garden digi set.

I took the butterfly and flipped it and saved it as a separate image so I can print them up going in either direction.  I then colored them with copics and cut them out.

The sentiment is from Chase Your Dreams digi set.  I cut it out using Spellbinders Beaded Ovals and sponged the openings using 'spun sugar' distressed ink.

I used paper from the following digi paper packs: Serenity, Cheerful Chirps and Fresh Flowers. 

I used Borders, Fanciful Flourishes by Cheery Lynn Designs and Magnolia DooHickeys Leaf and Swirls for the white swirls and leaves. 

The flowers were made using My Favorite Things Dienamics Mini Rolled Roses.  I love making these cute little flowers.

Here's this week's sketch - I hope you will play along!

Thank you for stopping by!  Don't forget to check out the rest of the design team's creations at the My Time Made Easy blog.

This card is also being entered in the following challenges:

The Shabby Tea Room:

    inspiration photo, colors: pinks, reds & neutrals and flowers

CR84FN color challenge:

Simon Says Stamp = anything goes!

Enjoy the Little Things...

"Enjoy the little things for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." -Robert Brault

What a great sentiment!  I love this saying which is a digi stamp by MTME.  I love their newest digi stamps and papers release!  You can find the paper I used here.    

Here's an angle view to show dimensions and layers.

I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two for framing the sentiment - then I popped the sentiment and frame on pop-up dots to give it dimension.

Here's the two banners with buttons at the top.  I love the shiny buttons!  I used my craft scissors to cut the backs off the buttons so they can lay much more flat.

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you are able to go blog hopping and check out what the other design team members have in store for you!  Don't forget to leave a comment too! 

A Mother's Day Card

I haven't had a chance to post some cards that I recently made... in fact, I haven't even had time to put the finishing touches on my mom's Mother's Day card so that one will have to wait - but I was able to give my mother-in-law her card so that's the one I want to share with you today.

There is a design team call over at "Our Creative Corner" - the theme is "show us your style".  Well, I have so many different styles that I wasn't sure what to submit but I think that this card shows several styles.  I love shabby chic, elegant, cute, colorful with just a touch of grunge.  Here's my card:

My mother-in-law is quite the seamstress.  She has a huge sewing room with many sewing machines and a lot of sewing supplies.  When I saw this Stampin' Up stamp set, Sew Suite, I just knew I had to have it so I could use it to make cards for her.  My mom and I both sew too so it's a set I'm sure to use quite a bit.

Below is a close-up of the sentiment.  I cut the flower out with larger flower from MFT's die-namic's mini rolled roses.  I used Spellbinder's labels twenty to cut out the sentiment and Spellbinder's label fourteen to cut out the decorative paper behind it.

At first I wasn't sure where I was going to place everything so I stamped the pin cushion and colored it with copics then set it aside.  After I decided that I wanted it on the sentiment I adhered it to the already cut out and sponged sentiment and then used Buttercup Liquid Pearls for the heads of the pins.

I used real buttons on this project and tied them with cotton string.  I really enjoy adding embellishments to my projects.  I made my own card with the sewing manikin stamp and hand-drew the dashes and dots.  I used to do that type of thing all the time in my decorative painting projects.  

I used some hand-dyed seam binding for the bow to add a little shabbiness and also used some distressed inks around the edges of each of the stamped items.  Here is an angle of the card to show the lovely dimensions.

I used the doily stamp from Nina Bracket's "Nana's needlework".  I stamped it with veramark ink on vellum and embossed it with detail white embossing powder.  I then fussy-cut it out around the outside edge.  I think it adds a touch of elegance.

I stamped the spool onto cardstock, colored it in with copics and then cut it out.  I then took some embroidery floss and wrapped it around to look like thread.

On the inside of the card I stamped the sewing machine and colored it with copics. I added a little shine with a glitter pen.

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed your visit and remember:  everyone loves comments - especially ME!  So please leave me a message - they keep me going!  tee-hee!  
And join me a little later when I post my card for My Time Made Easy's Pretty Pattern Sketch challenge.